Hopper car discharge apparatus



April 18, 1950 w. F. BANKAUF ETAL 2,504,789

HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE APPARATUS Filed 001:. 12 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS Wll/lam F Bankauf Chris foplyer l l'larrfngfofl April 18, 1950 Filed Oct. 12, 1945 w. F. BANKAUF ETAL 2,504,789

HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTOR/VEYJ Patented Apr. 18, 1950 HOPPER CAR DISCHARGE APPARATUS William F. Bankaui', East Paterson, and Christopher J. Harrington, Clifton, N. J assignors, by mesne assignments, to Hewitt-Robins Incorporated, a corporation of New York Application October 12, 1945, SerialNo. 621.918

9 Claims.

This invention relates generally to the unloading of hoppers and is of particular utility, and will be described herein, as applied to the unloading of railroadhopper cars such as are commonly used to transport coal, ore and similar materials. Such cars are equipped with sloping bottoms and closure gates underneath, the gates being opened to permit the gravity discharge of the contents of the car. Notwithstanding the sloping bottoms, the material to be discharged, whether it be coal. ore or other similar material, does not flow freely and continuously but tends to bridge over the discharge openings from time to time, requiring much manual labor to free it and empty the car. The same difliculty is experienced in the emptying of hoppers generally. In the case of railroad cars, frequently as many as six laborers may be employed in the unloading of a single car, and even with such manual asrequiring more than a fraction of the man-power heretofore used for the purpose.'

The principles of the invention will be readily understood from the following description of the preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings as applied to a railroad hopper car.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic, side elevational view of a typical railroad hopper car having the preferred embodiment of the apparatus applied to it;

Fig. 2 is a broken out, side elevational view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1 but much en- ,larged;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus;

Fig 4 is an end elevational view of the apparatus (the terms "side" and end being used in the same sense as applied to the car itself) and Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a detail.

According to the invention, a heavy mass is appropriately supported in a position to be vibrated, i. e. more or :less vertically reciprocated, into and out of contact with the tops of opposite walls of the hopper or car. At the bin or other location where the load is to be discharged, there will be provided a suitable mechanism by which the structure can be placed in position. Conveniently, and as shown in the preferred form illustrated, thema'ss is in the form of a frame structure dimensioned to bridge and seat upon the car side walls; and a hoist may be used to lower the frame into position on the car and raised ofi the car when the latter has been emptied. As thus arranged, the structure seats loosely on the tops of the our walls and is arranged to be vibrated with such force as to cause it to rise and fall, out of and into contact with the tops of the car walls, so as to subject both of the latter to continuous and severe jarring or hammering, the mass of the frame structure being such as to cause the car itself to vibrate bodily. While the general bodily vibration of the car is in a vertical direction, it has also been found that by means of such an arrangement as that illustrated, the car walls are caused to flutter or vibrate toward and from each other. In the result, the material in the car discharges in a virtually continuous flow and in a remarkably short time without any manual assistance whatsoever. By the described method, the time. required is of the order of five minutes, as contrasted with the half hour mentioned above.

In the drawings, a. conventional hopper car, marked i, is shown in Fig. 1, with the apparatus 2 applied to it in a generally central location longitudinall of the car and seated on the tops of the side walls 3. While not shown in detail, the car is equipped with the usual gates 4, which are capable of being opened to discharge the load through the bottom of the car.

As shown in the other figures of the drawings, this preferred form of the apparatus consists of a main frame 5 and an auxiliary frame 6 mounted on it, both frames being of generally rectangular form.

As shown more particularly in Fig. 4, the main frame consists of side portions 1, 8 united by a heavy bridge structure 9 including end plates it. As will be understood, the details of these elements are immaterial so far as the invention is concerned, it being important only that the frame be extremely rugged and of adequate mass for the purpose. Mounted in suitable bearings and extending longitudinally of the frame in this instance, that is, parallel to the ear walls, is a centrally located shaft H which carries eccentric weights l2, such shaft and weights constituting 3 that this preferred method of reciprocating the frame, i. e. by means of rotating eccentric weights, will tend to impart a compound motion to the frame. In general, the vertical component of such motion is of prime importance so far as the present invention is concerned but the horizontal or lateral components also contribute, and are availed of to good advantage when the compound motion is eflective, as in this instance, in a plane transverse to the length of the car. With the structure so arranged, the vibration of the car walls is accentuated.

Extending along and beneath the side portions I, of the main frame are channel members i3, H the depending flanges of which straddle the tops of the car walls. The channel members are loosely connected to the main frame, that is, with freedom for limited vertical movement relatively thereto, the connection of channel i3 in Fig. 2 being shown as consisting of bolt i 5 passing through elongated hole IS in the frame side portions. Secured to the underside of the side frame members I, 8 are spaced shoes H on which the whole structure is supported on the channel members. The latter thus serve not only to guide or locate the frame on the car walls and restrain it against undue lateral movement but also to receive the direct pounding of the vibrated mass.

The auxiliary frame 6 is supported on the main frame by a series of springs l8 and On it is mounted a motor i9 connected, as by belt 20, with shaft Ii. By reason of its spring support the auxiliary frame is vibrated to a lesser extent than the main frame and the motor is adequately protected against undue shock. -The auxiliary frame may be suitably restrained against undue horizontal movement relative to the main frame, as by such means as the bolt and spring connections 2|, 22 (Fig. 3). With its head seated against a portion of auxiliary frame 6, bolt 2| passes through a bracket 23 secured to main frame I, the compression of spring 22 against bracket 23 being adjusted by 1001: nuts, as illustrated. The opposite side of the auxiliary frame may be similarly tied to the main frame, as illustrated in dotted outline at the right of Fig. 4. As will be recognized, such bolt and spring connections may be utilized to apply appropriate tension to the belt 20.

Means may also be provided for braking excessive vertical movement of the auxiliary frame relative to the main frame. One form of such means, generally designated 24 in Fig. 2, is shown in detail in Fig. 5. It consists of a pair of vertical plates 25, 26 secured to and upstanding from the main frame and a sleeve 21 secured to and depending from the auxiliary frame. Within sleeve 21, but having no connection with it, are two shoes 28, 29 which are thrust apart and held in frictional engagement with plates 25, 26 by spring 30. The clearance between shoes 28, 29

and sleeve 21 is such that during normal relative movement between the two frames, there is no contact between the sleeve and the shoes. How

ever, if such relative movement is such as to exceed the clearance, the shoes are moved up and down by the sleeve and, by reason of their fric-' tional engagement with plates 25, 28, serve to dampen and thereby'restrict such movement.

Without limiting the applications of the inventionto hopper cars generally, or the kind now commonly employed, it may be mentioned that such cars usually have a load capacity of 100,000 lbs., thecars themselves weighing in the neighborhood of $040,000 lbs.; and while the specifications of the described apparatus may obviously be varied widely to suit the exigencies of any particular case, highly satisfactory results are obtained with a vibrated mass of the order of 7,400 lbs. having a theoretical lift of about one-quarter inch. A 12 H. P. motor-driving the weight shaft at 1000 R. P. M. is adequate for the purpose and the over-all weight of the apparatus can thus be well within the handling capacity of a 5 ton hoist.

It will be understood that the vertical reciprocatory movement of the apparatus is less than the relative movement permitted between the mainframe and the channel members l3, I, so that the latter remain seated on the car walls through theoperation of emptying a car,

' the main frame rising and falling rapidly and (through the shoes i1, i8) pounding the channel members and the car walls on which they are seated. Due to the fact that the car vibration thus induced is alone suilicient to effect the rapid discharge of the contents of the car when the gates are opened, no more than two men are required to handle the emptying of cars with apparatus of the character described, one to manipulate the hoist and the other to guide it into place as may be necessary and to manipulate the car discharge gates. While the car is not illustrated in such detail, it will be understood that hopper cars of the kind referred to are provided with appropriate spring suspensions and that any such resilient support for the hopper itself serves to protect the basic support (the track in this instance) from damage due to the pounding of the walls by the reciprocated mass.

In the light of the foregoing description of the presently preferred apparatus for carrying out'the method, the following ,is claimed:

1. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like, comprising a main frame dimensioned and adapted to bridge the side walls of a car, channel elements spaced by the frame to seat on the tops of the said'c'ar walls beneath the frame and secured to the frame with freedom for limited vertical movement relatively thereto, an auxiliary frame mounted above the main frame, spring'means-supporting the auxiliary frame on the main frame, a. motor mounted on the auxiliary frame, a shaft mounted on the main frame, drive conn'ections'between the motor and shaft, spring means adapted to oppose relative horizontal movement between the said frames, and eccentric weight means adapted to be rotated by s'aidshaft, the said eccentric weight means being adapted to subject the mainframe bodily'to vertical, reciprocatory movements of an amplitude less than the limit of the said relative vertical movement'permissible between the channel elements and the main frame, whereby the main frame applies repeated hammer blows to the channel elements and hence to the car side walls.

2. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like, comprising a main frame dimensioned and adapted to bridge and seat upon the side walls of a car with freedom for vertical movement relatively thereto, an auxiliary frame andspring means for supporting the same on the main frame. a motor mounted on the auxiliary frame, a shaft mounted on the main frame, drive connections between the motor and shaft, and eccentric weight means adapted to be rotated by the shaft. the said eccentric weight means being adapted to subject the main frame to vertical, reciprocatory movement relatively to the said car walls, thereby to apply repeated hammer blows to the tops of such walls.

3. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like, comprising a frame structure dimensioned and adapted to bridge and seat upon two opposite walls of a car with freedom for vertical movement relatively thereto, and a power-driven vibrator shaft mounted on said structure with its axis parallel to the said walls, said vibrator shaft adapted to subject the frame structure to vertical, reciprocation to the mass in a vertical plane normal to the said car walls and of an amplitude to cause the mass to pound the tops of the car walls, and members depending from said mass adjacent said walls for limiting horizontal displacement of the mass relatively to the car walls.

5. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like, comprising lower side frame members adapted to seat upon the upper edges of opposite walls of a car, bridge members uniting the side frame members, a shaft journaled in said bridge members with its axis parallel to the lower side frame members, an unbalanced weight associated with the shaft for rotation thereby, springs mounted on said lower side frame members, upper frame side members supported on the springs above the lower side frame members, and at their ends extending beyond the said bridge members, cross members connecting the upper frame side members, a pulley on said shaft in the space between one of the bridge members and the adjacent cross member, a motor mounted on one of the upper frame members and a .belt connection therefrom to said pulley.

6. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like, comprising a first frame structure dimensioned and adapted to bridge and seat upon the upper edges of opposite walls of a car with freedom for vertical movement relatively thereto, a rotatable unbalanced body on said frame mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis, a second frame, springs interposed between said first and second frames, a motor mounted on the secondframe and drive connections from the motor to the rotatable body on the first frame.

7. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like, comprising a walls.

unbalanced body on the first frame connected to the motor for rotation thereby.

8. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like comprising a frame structure having, on its underside adjacent its ends, seat surfaces spaced apart to bear upon the tops of the side walls of a car and downwardly projecting elements adjacent said seat surfaces adapted to limit lateral movement of the frame structure relatively to the said side walls, a shaft journalled in said frame structure, a motor mount and springs supporting the same on the frame structure, a motor on said mount, driveconnections between the motor and shaft, and eccentric weight means adapted to'be rotated by said shaft, the said eccentric weight means being adapted to subject the frame to vertical, reciprocatory movement relatively to thesaid car walls, thereby to apply repeated hammer blows to the tops of such walls.

9. Apparatus for accelerating the emptying of railroad hopper cars and the like comprising a frame structure having, on its underside adjacent its ends, seat surfaces spaced apart to bear upon the tops of the side walls of a car and downwardly projecting elements adjacent said seat surfaces and adapted to limit lateral-movement of the.

frame structure relatively to the said walls, a shaft journalled in said frame structure, a motor, means for resiliently supporting the motor on said frame structure to dampen the transmission.

of vibrations from the frame structure to the motor, flexible drive means between the resiliently supported motor and the haft, and eccentric weight means adapted to be rotated by said shaft, the said eccentric weight means being adapted to subject the frame to vertical, reciprocatory movement relatively to the said car walls, thereby to apply repeated hammer blows to the tops of such WILLIAM F. BANKAUF. CHRISTOPHER J. HARRINGTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,212,252 Pellegrino Jan. 16, 1917 1,845,369 Von Keller Feb. 16, 1932 1,879,923 Deister Sept. 27. 1932 

